Katie Couric: Uncomfortable using “we” when referring to the US, not into “jubilant” patriotism

posted at 5:49 pm on September 26, 2007 by Bryan

The former “Today” show anchor traced her discomfort with the administration’s march to war back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States and, even the ‘shock and awe’ of the initial stages, it was just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in.”

Yeah, those lapel pins are a real burden, aren’t they.

On Ahmadinejad:

Couric referenced comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday’s “The Charlie Rose Show,” and said she actually agreed with Ahmadinejad on one point. “Oftentimes Westerners don’t really understand fully the values of this particular culture,” said Couric.

So much for the weight of the modern civilized world expressing revulsion at Mad Mahmoud. Leading lights like Couric (whose newscast still only gets around 5 million viewers) are too busy expressing revulsion at their own president and country.

At least she gets Rather right.

Couric took Rather to task for his reporting. “There were things in there that were quite egregious in terms of how it was reported,” she said. “And sloppy work is sloppy work…They did not dot their I’s and cross their T’s when it came to that story…And our job is to get right.”

In other words, they shouldn’t have used Microsoft Word’s default font.

Blowback

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I’ve often thought when Katie had that colonoscopy performed on her now famous broadcast, it may well have damaged her ability to think clearly, as the scope was dangerously close to where her brains are.

Couric took Rather to task for his reporting. “There were things in there that were quite egregious in terms of how it was reported,” she said. “And sloppy work is sloppy work…They did not dot their I’s and cross their T’s when it came to that story…And our job is to get right.”

Couric took Rather to task for his reporting. “There were things in there that were quite egregious in terms of how it was reported,” she said. “And sloppy work is sloppy work…They did not dot their I’s and cross their T’s when it came to that story…And our job is to get right.”

CBS just can’t seem to get it right. They think Couric can be honest about her contempt for our country and everyone will say she’s honest and start watching her. WRONG…everyone knew who she was without being told and that is why they weren’t watching. Being honest is completely out of character for her and CBS.

Nice to see she gives Mahmoud the benefit of the doubt but has nothing but disdain for so many of her own countrymen. Mahmoud needs to be understood, we need to be held in contempt. Did that colonoscopy find any signs of brain activity?

I wonder what the endgame spin will be on her eventual departure from the evening news? CBS needs to keep her on long enough to dodge the obvious conclusions, her ratings stink and people would rather get their news from an older white male, lest they incur the wrath of NOW, but not long enough to hurt profitability.

Their job hasn’t been “to get [it] right” for several decades. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think the “reporting” was slanted and biased. As evidence, compare these two stories: Abramoff – Hsu.

“So, in short, I supported America before I didn’t, and only because they did someting that I supported at the time, but then realized is unpopular, but was very popular at the time. In much shorter, I’m a spineless waffle.”

sounds weird at first but i think she was just referring to America’s history as a pluralist nation, lots of different opinions including dissenting ones. In the lead up to the Iraq war this pluralism wasn’t as vibrant as it should have been, a lot of opposition views were dismissed as unpatriotic. Which pretty much led us to where we are now.

Katie abides the journalists’ metaphoric “man of the world” cariacature and, therefore, is our better. How can you not listen and believe?

To our servicemen overseas: do not expect Katie to warn you of an impending ambush. She will keep faith with her profession, hold to her duty to objectivity, keep the camera rolling and revel in her exclusive when reporting on your deaths. She is definitely a patriot, just not to a country and certainly not to ours.

“The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States and,…

Then what the hell is she? English? Canadian? When referring to the US and Americans, if one is American, it is we. Sorry, I do question her patriotism if she doesn’t like to be lumped as an American and part of the United States. Yet another reason not to watch her; not that I ever did.

I was patriotic and proud to be an American even when Clinton was in office. I still loathe the man. It never occurred to me that having a sleazy liar in office had anything to do with how I felt about America itself, just how I felt about the idiots that voted for him.

“Oftentimes Westerners don’t really understand fully the values of this particular culture,” said Couric.
Well I understand it just too well but unfortunately she and her fellow left travellers do not.

I apologize for the vulgarity — it’s late here on the east coast, I’m tired and I have really more than had it with Katie Couric, Chris Matthews, David Shuster, Keith Olbermann, and the whole cadre of left wing water-carriers in the media. I’ll exhibit a little more restraint going forward.

…her presence, especially as anchor of CBS Evening News, is an insult to women and journalist and women journalist especially, because, quite frankly, the tough women journalist out there are bad ass and she is a twit and it sucks.

I just don’t watch News™ anymore. She is just a reinforcement of that stance.

by Tirge Caps on Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 06:50:41 PM PDT

Katie’s husband

died of cancer at age 42…

that might of made a more interesting part of why she didn’t just give up her career…

also she should have asked cancer experts what’s best for the patients,

the consensus is waiting to die does not help the patient

by inevitibility on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 05:26:29 AM PDT

Couric has become an embarrasment
of the journalistic fraternity now. She’s turned into a mean-spirited, rank amateur, endowed with a tin ear, intellectually and morally dense, unaware of her lack of sensitivity, and altogether unattractive as a human being.

They lambasted Katie Couric to the tune of 600 comments and the hugely vast majority of the comments, not to mention the diary itself, was seething and vindictive. They even draggerd her dead husband who passed away due to cancer in to it. I wait with baited breath for the forthcoming DKos diary(s) and comments regarding this.

Will she be redeemed in their eyes? Will she be roasted and toasted again by a diarist suffering a sudden and short-lived moment of clarity (don’t hold your breath…)? Will she simply be ignored? Stay tuned. Same bat time… same bat channel

*by the way, those macro pics links were from the linked DKos comment thread. At least they and I/we agree on something, it seems.

Then what the hell is she? English? Canadian? When referring to the US and Americans, if one is American, it is we. …
katieanne on September 26, 2007 at 7:07 PM

Typically, journalists will not refer to themselves in the first person when reporting. Similarly, you will not hear journalists refer to “you” in a news story. Instead you will find “one” used. For example: One could watch CBS news, but why?

None of that takes away from the myriad comments, which revealed Katie Couric’s absolute bias and lack of objectivity.

She actually sounds like she avoided using “we” anytime, not just during newscasts.

the most amusing thing about the definitive profile, Desperate Networks, was that zero mention was made of what made Zucker and Katie both famous: Zucker taking advantage of the earpiece in Katie’s cute lil’ head that came in ultra handy when Bush 41 stumbled into the interview of Barbara Bush, and amBushed him, via earpiece, about Iran/Contra. Katie Couric was nothing more than a ventriloquists dummy, yet instantly achieved international fame and credibility… and thus we find ourselves in the pathetic postmodern world of news that we inhabit….

Funny. When she was in Iraq she wasn’t so cynical. I guess since it didn’t provide the ratings boost she had hoped for it is okay to go back to questioning everything.
Or now that she doesn’t need the umbrella of protection by the soldiers she can go back to “supporting the troops but not the mission”.
Support the newsreaders, but not the telecast.

If Reuters displays a photoshopped image to promote their agenda, that’s a “bad” thing.

But if HotAir does it, it’s perfectly okay.

Just checking.

Dr. Mercury on September 27, 2007 at 8:24 AM

So you don’t see any difference between a photo that was blatantly photoshopped for humorous purposes, and stealthily doctored images being passed off as legitimate news? Because if you can’t figure out that only the latter is intended to deceive, then you are exactly the gullible target audience that the enemedia is looking for.

As for the perky twit, liberals are only “comfortable” with the kind of patriotism that doesn’t actually involve being patriotic.